The slowed-down initial public offering of CI Financial Corp’s US RIA and wealth business, Corient, is apparently picking up steam once again, with Kurt MacAlpine, the CEO of the Canadian asset manager CI Financial, pointing to the year after next for a listing.
Based in Toronto, CI Financial operates three business lines: Asset Management, which includes operations in Canada and Australia; Canadian wealth management, operating as CI Wealth; and US wealth management, which includes Corient Private Wealth. Corient would eventually be spun off in the IPO.
Corient, which changed its moniker from CI Private Wealth last year, was one of the most aggressive buyers of registered investment advisors and wealth management firms during the RIA buying boom of the last five years.
But that aggressive strategy left some in the RIA industry wondering whether the firm had overpaid for its assorted acquisitions.
In May 2023, CI Financial in May announced the sale of a 20 percent private ownership stake in CI Private Wealth, it also said it plans for an initial public offering of that business, now Corient, was still in the works but had been postponed.
Ever since, Corient has been integrating offices, a move that reduces expenses, and this year has continued its acquisition strategy.
CI Financial’s share price has responded, with its shares that trade in the US increasing almost 67 percent in the past year to close Thursday at $16.93.
“As it relates to the timing for the IPO markets, kind of the opportune time to look at the separation of the business and pursue the Corient IPO would probably be sometime in early to mid-2026,” MacAlpine said Thursday morning during a conference call with investors and analysts. “We've been laser focused heads-down on driving maximum integration, maximum growth, really setting up the business to continue to scale, which we've done.”
“But we'll continue to keep an eye on markets, see how the IPO market unfolds, and then look at the timing as it relates to all those factors,” he added.
At the end of September, Corient reported $185.3 billion in total assets, up from $145.1 billion at the same time last year, an increase of 27.8 percent.
During the third quarter, Corient completed the acquisitions of two firms with a focus on providing comprehensive wealth management services to ultra-high-net-worth clients and combined assets at the time of acquisition of close to $5.9 billion, according to the company.
The firms were Emerald Multi-Family Office of Weston, Fla., and Byron Financial of Charlotte, N.C., which are now operating under the Corient brand.
"The outcome is correct, but it's disappointing that FINRA had ample opportunity to investigate the merits of clients' allegations in these claims, including the testimony in the three investor arbitrations with hearings," Jeff Erez, a plaintiff's attorney representing a large portion of the Stifel clients, said.
The collaboration will give RIAs yet another access point into the alternatives space through a new unified managed account capability.
A drop in interest rates and easier access to capital has reignited appetite among private equity-backed consolidators, who accounted for 53% of RIA deals so far this year- their highest share since 2021 according to DeVoe & Company.
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